Thinking Strategically About Your Business
Ready?... Set... Nah! This is about the time of year when many business
owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals begin procrastinating about
doing their annual planning.
Why is this such a daunting task? For many, it's because we imagine
annual planning as a huge, time-consuming and difficult chore. What
if it were easy and quick? What do you stand to gain from effectively
planning for next year? Planning helps you remove the uncertainty,
avoid surprises, pull your team together, and save time and money.
Here is a simple process for you to plan for next year. It is relatively
easy and can be done in a day or less. First, let's get prepared.
You'll need a few hours of uninterrupted time (best if done in only
one or two sittings), so block off one day or two half-days in your
calendar. If you work with a partner, spouse or key management team,
schedule to do this together, as a team. Decree casual, comfortable
clothing and make arrangements for coffee and lunch.
For most enterprises, the annual planning process is most effective
when guided by a professional facilitator. If you decide to have a
go at it on your own, use the following step-by-step process.
Phase one is self evaluation of the enterprise. Here, we'll
look at what's important to us, where we're going what are we all
about and what's our prime purpose. This is what strategic thinking
is all about. For this phase, identify the five or six key areas that
are important and essential for your business - cash flow, customers,
employees, image, growth, productivity and so on. Write them down.
These are your organizational values.
In each of these areas, develop a crystal clear vision of where you
are going with this. What's possible. What does it look like when
you're living up to your best expectations in each of these areas?
Describe as best you can, in writing, what it looks like and what
it feels like when you have reached the point in each of your key
result areas where you are happy with each. This represents a picture
of your future as you prefer it to be.
If you can articulate a clear vision of your preferred future, focusing
on those areas that are important to you and to your business, that
vision becomes your destination down the road. That clear vision allows
you to set goals in the direction of your preferred future. That vision
provides motivation, energy, purpose and direction. It certainly helps
you to communicate with the people around you.
Starting with a clear vision of what's possible helps you to answer
the question we must ask ourselves each day -- why are we doing this
piece of work and is it taking us where we need to go?
Phase two is about making choices. This process includes telling
the truth about our current reality. We need to identify where is
our greatest area of need. Where can we make the most definitive progress
this year? To do this, use a scale of 1-10 ( 10 is wonderful and 1
is lousy) to rate each of the organizational value areas. Rate each
as to how well you are currently living up to that value when compared
to your vision of your preferred future. If you're doing this as a
group, have each person describe their rating.
Phase three is to establish priorities. The hardest and most
vital part of thinking strategically is accepting the simple truth
that we cannot do all the things we want to do or even all the things
which are important. When we try to do it all, we do not do any of
it well.
Use the completed ratings to select the one or two areas where you
have the greatest opportunity for improvement in the coming year.
Where is your greatest dissonance? In which value area would improvement
translate to significant results? In which value area is the largest
gap between your preferred future and your current reality? Select
one or two value areas as your priority for the coming year.
Phase four is to develop the action plan. We must get clear
about who will do what and when. Start with brainstorming all the
possible actions which could move you closer toward your preferred
future in the one or two value areas you have selected as your priority
for the coming year. Be creative here. Don't be limited to doing what
you've always done; you'll limit yourself to getting the same results
you've always had.
Once you've created a list of possible action steps, group the action
items into categories such as marketing, communications, facilities,
employees, etc. Usually, 3-5 categories will cover them all (it's
OK to have a 'Misc.' category). Now, go back through each action item
in each category to assign a person to be accountable for that action,
and to determine when that action item will be complete.
Phase five is implementation. The plan has little value until
we do something with it. This must also include follow up and review
of progress. Each person must have a clear understanding of their
individual accountability. If it's just you in your one-person company,
you, too, must get clear on how you will accomplish your assigned
tasks. This may include blocking off some time each week to concentrate
on your action items.
Once or twice a month, stop to review your progress. What's getting
done? What's not getting done? How are we doing? Examine the action
items that are being pushed off. Either break them into smaller, easier
tasks or decide explicitly that you are not going to do that one.
Celebrate your successes and the progress you are making. At the
same time, don't get too impatient. Remember that your plan is for
the whole year, so it's OK if everything is not done by the end of
the first month.
The process of thinking strategically about your business can be
one of opportunity and excitement. Through this process, everyone
in the organization can understand and commit themselves to a consistent
system of values and vision for the future. It helps bring the plan
alive for the people who must deliver on the goals.
The payback is a high return on your investment of time and commitment
to the process. The payback also comes in your ability to withstand
the whipsaw of change. An enterprise grounded with a clear direction
and a plan to get there will have both focus on what is important
and the flexibility to respond to new opportunities.
Here's to a successful year for you and your business!
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About the Author...
Gary Lockwood is Increasing the Effectiveness and Enhancing the
Lives of CEOs, business owners and professionals.
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